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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-06-08 Daily Xml
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COVID-19 Quarantine Facilities

Mr PICTON (Kaurna) (14:46): Why have the states of Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia all received advice that dedicated facilities are safer but South Australia has received no such advice?

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: Point of order: the question doesn't comply with standing order 97 or the requirement to seek leave if the member is seeking to introduce alleged fact.

The SPEAKER: I uphold the point of order. I will give the member for Kaurna an opportunity—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, member for Chaffey!

Mr Pederick interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Hammond is called to order.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The question, which I listened to carefully, referred to circumstances in a number of other states and referred to the state of affairs in South Australia. I will give the member for Kaurna an opportunity to seek leave should he wish to do so.

Mr PICTON: Thank you, sir. I seek leave before asking a question to the Premier.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my right! Does the member for Kaurna seek leave to introduce facts?

Mr PICTON: Yes, sir.

Leave granted.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my right! The member for Kaurna has the call. He is entitled to be heard in silence.

Mr PICTON: My question is to the Premier. Why have the premiers of Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia all received advice that dedicated quarantine facilities are safer, but you have not?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Kaurna will resume his seat. The Minister for Energy and Mining on a point of order.

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: It's not allowed, under standing order 97, to make an argument in a question and then later on seek leave to insert some of the statements.

The SPEAKER: I have the point of order. I would like to listen to the remainder of the question. I will give the member for Kaurna the opportunity to complete the question and to seek relevant leave. The member for Kaurna has the call.

Mr PICTON: I will ask it again. They don't seem to want to answer this question.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my right!

Mr PICTON: My question is: why is every other state premier receiving advice that dedicated quarantine—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr PICTON: —is safer, but this Premier is not? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Mr PICTON: In every other mainland state—Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia—premiers have received advice that dedicated quarantine facilities are safer, and they are now proceeding to apply and to plan for the construction of those except here in South Australia.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Leave has been granted.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my right! Leave has been granted to the member for Kaurna to introduce facts. The member for Kaurna has done so. I will give the minister the opportunity to answer the question.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan—Premier) (14:51): Sorry, sir, I lost concentration. Can I have the question again?

The SPEAKER: Does the member for Kaurna wish to repeat the question?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Playford will cease interjecting.

Mr PICTON: Thank you. If he puts the phone down, I will ask the question and he can listen.

The Hon. L.W.K. Bignell: We'll put this on YouTube and show everyone how hopeless you are as a premier.

The SPEAKER: The member for Mawson is warned.

Mr PICTON: Why has every other state premier received advice and is acting upon dedicated hotel quarantine facilities except here in South Australia? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

The SPEAKER: Leave has been granted. You can repeat the explanation, member for Kaurna.

Mr PICTON: In every other mainland state—Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia—premiers have said that they have received advice that hotel quarantine is safer, and they are proceeding to develop plans for dedicated quarantine facilities and get out of hotel quarantine except here in South Australia.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: I thank the member for Kaurna for his question. It was a little bit difficult to follow for a while. It is a little bit like the member for West Torrens' idea about the interconnector, which I also find a little bit confusing.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Members on my left!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: For starters, I am not responsible to this house for what other states and what other premiers determine to be the best action for their states, but I would point out that I think the assertion made in the question may not be 100 per cent correct, and who would think that an assertion made by Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition may not be 100 per cent correct?

Again, what we are talking about here is additional capacity versus replacement capacity, and I do know that some premiers have said that they think that, if the commonwealth government do want to have additional capacity, the federal government should build and operate those additional services, but that is actually not what we are talking about here: we don't want to bring in additional international passengers to South Australia. Now, it is quite clear that the Leader of the Opposition does. The Leader of the Opposition wants to bring more international—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my left!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: —arrivals into South Australia. He has made it very clear that he wants to have a new quarantine facility—

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order, sir.

The SPEAKER: The Premier will resume his seat. The member for West Torrens rises on a point of order.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Standing order 98, sir: the Premier is implying an opinion on the Leader of the Opposition that is not accurate. It's debate, sir.

The SPEAKER: The question—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The question was quite specific in its terms insofar as it related to advice that may have been received in other states. Leave was obtained in order to introduce facts in relation to the question. I direct the Premier to the question, and in so doing I uphold the point of order and I will listen carefully to the remainder of the Premier's answer. The Premier has the call.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: As I was saying previously, I am not influenced by what other state premiers form as the best situation for their state. Secondly, I make the point very clearly that with regard to Premier Berejiklian's comments in the media it was very clear on my reading that, if the federal government wants additional capacity for repatriating Australians coming back to this country, then the federal government should build that and operate it themselves. There has never been any suggestion anywhere in terms of a replacement like for like. It is not clear to me what the Leader of the Opposition is arguing for. It seems to me that he is arguing for medi-hotels and a dedicated facility.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: We are not interested in that. We think that we have the right number of people coming back at the moment.

Mr Malinauskas interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The leader will cease interjecting. The Premier has the call.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: The Leader of the Opposition hasn't identified a place for this dedicated facility. He has been asked about this repeatedly. He's got no plans—

Mr Malinauskas: Yes I have. You're not paying attention. You've got to wake up and start paying attention.

The SPEAKER: The leader will cease interjecting.

The Hon. A. Koutsantonis: Because he's debating, sir.

The SPEAKER: The Premier has the call.

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL: Thank you very much, sir. I don't think it's fair to say that all other premiers in mainland Australia have received advice and are acting on advice and, in fact, lobbying the federal government for a change of their existing facilities to dedicated quarantine facilities. I was at the national cabinet. I was there on Friday and, whilst we don't talk about what goes on in national cabinet, it was crystal clear that the comments that the Prime Minister has made in the public domain reflect his offer in the national cabinet, and that is that those states that would like to build their quarantine capacity outside of their existing caps could be supported by the federal government.

We are not proposing that. The Leader of the Opposition needs to determine his own policy. It seems to me that the Leader of the Opposition wants to have existing medi-hotel arrangements and a new dedicated quarantine arrangement. That means new people and additional people coming in. We think that increases the risks, so we have arrived at the position that we are in at the moment.

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